Book picks similar to
Trustworthy Connections by Anne Winvhell Silver


reference
seminary
spiritual-formation
spirituality

Depression: A Stubborn Darkness–Light for the Path


Edward T. Welch - 2000
    Dr. Ed Welch writes compassionately on the complex nature of depression and sheds light on the path toward deep, lasting healing. Welch considers the spiritual, medical, and emotional factors that contribute to depression. Even more important is his insight into the impact of these factors' interaction.

Self to Lose, Self to Find: Using the Enneagram to Uncover Your True, God-Gifted Self


Marilyn Vancil - 2020
    "This book is a gem. It's one of the top five books I recommend on the Enneagram."--Ian Morgan Cron, author of The Road Back to You "An accessible, biblical and practical roadmap for anyone who wants to live fully into their true, authentic, God-given identity. I highly recommend it!"--Brenda Salter McNeil, author of Becoming Brave The Enneagram--a system of nine interconnected personality types--has been developed over many years to offer opportunities for personal development and provide a foundation for understanding others.Now a certified Enneagram coach shows how a scriptural perspective can lead us to a path of freedom. In Self to Lose, Self to Find, Marilyn Vancil unpacks our human dilemma, sets the scriptural foundation, explores the nine Enneagram personalities, and shows us practical ways to have a more meaningful life and healthier relationships. At its best, the Enneagram doesn't merely describe who we are, but shows us why we do what we do. It invites us to see the innate gifts and inclinations of our original design--the person we were before trials and traumas began to shape us. It also reveals the strategies and false narratives that keep us from becoming who we're truly meant to be.Vancil offers a compelling biblical case for the Enneagram by drawing from John 12:24, which describes how we, like seeds, construct a protective coat that helps us survive in a world where we encounter challenges and insecurities. But for us to truly live a fruitful life, we must allow the protective coat to soften and fall away in order to grow.This is what sets Vancil apart as both a seasoned Enneagram expert and a spiritual director: Within a scriptural context, she demonstrates how the Enneagram can be a vehicle for growth and transformation by laying out the realities of each Enneagram type, affirming the inherent genius of each type, showcasing the unhealthy tendencies of each type's false self, and illuminating the undeniable path to freedom for each one.Combining rich biblical wisdom with Enneagram wisdom and real-life experiences, this compelling resource is a must for anyone who longs for a happier, freer life.

Washed and Waiting: Reflections on Christian Faithfulness and Homosexuality


Wesley Hill - 2010
    Yet many who sit next to us in the pew at church fit that description, says author Wesley Hill. As a celibate gay Christian, Hill gives us a glimpse of what it looks like to wrestle firsthand with God's "No" to same-sex relationships. What does it mean for gay Christians to live faithful to God while struggling with the challenge of their homosexuality? What is God's will for believers who experience same-sex desires? Those who choose celibacy are often left to deal with loneliness and the hunger for relationships. How can gay Christians experience God's favor and blessing in the midst of a struggle that for many brings a crippling sense of shame and guilt? Weaving together reflections from his own life and the lives of other Christians, such as Henri Nouwen and Gerard Manley Hopkins, Hill offers a fresh perspective on these questions. He advocates neither unqualified "healing" for those who struggle, nor their accommodation to temptation, but rather faithfulness in the midst of brokenness. "I hope this book may encourage other homosexual Christians to take the risky step of opening up their lives to others in the body of Christ," Hill writes. "In so doing, they may find, as I have, by grace, that being known is spiritually healthier than remaining behind closed doors, that the light is better than the darkness."

God's Voice Within: The Ignatian Way to Discover God's Will


Mark E. Thibodeaux - 2010
    Instead we look outside ourselves to determine what God wants from and for us. In God’s Voice Within, spiritual director Mark E. Thibodeaux, SJ, shows us how to use Ignatian discernment to access our own spiritual intuition and understand that the most trustworthy wisdom of all comes not from outside sources, but from God working through us.God’s Voice Within is intended for people who know that there is more to the spiritual life than they are currently experiencing and are ready to take the next step in their walk of faith by making effective discernment—specifically Ignatian discernment—a daily practice.Ultimately, God’s Voice Within teaches us to discern what is at the root of our actions and emotions, which in turn allows us to respond to God’s promptings inside us rather than unconsciously reacting to life around us.

CO-DEPENDENTS ANONYMOUS


CoDA - 2012
    The only requirement for membership is a desire for healthy and loving relationships. We gather together to support and share with each other in a journey of self-discovery—learning to love the self. Living the program allows each of us to become increasingly honest with ourselves about our personal histories and our own codependent behaviors. We rely upon the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions for knowledge and wisdom. These are the principles of our program and guides to developing honest and fulfilling relationships with ourselves and others. In CoDA, we each learn to build a bridge to a Higher Power of our own understanding, and we allow others the same privilege. This renewal process is a gift of healing for us. By actively working the program of Co-Dependents Anonymous, we can each realize a new joy, acceptance, and serenity in our lives.

They Lived With God: Life Stories Of Some Devotees Of Sri Ramakrishna


Chetananda - 1989
    It is interesting to note that these lay disciples even after Swami Ramakrishna's death continued to live the same transformed lives. They accepted him as as a Divine Incarnation, as God manifest in human form. This Books presents a more complete picture of Ramakrishna himself, including many new stories about life which have never been recorded in English.

Psalms: The Prayer Book of the Bible


Dietrich Bonhoeffer - 1959
    He affirms that the Lord's Prayer is the primary prayer of the Christian, which he asserts contains every prayer that a Christian ought to pray. Bonhoeffer also makes a startling but wise claim that jolts us out of the narrowness of our focus in prayer: "The richness of the Word of God ought to determine our prayer, not the poverty of our heart." Thus we find the book of Psalms to be a rich treasury of prayers that are part of God's inspired word, and therefore a true place to learn how God would have us pray.

A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix


Edwin H. Friedman - 2007
    He was the first to tell us that all organizations have personalities, like families, and to apply the insights of family therapy to churches and synagogues, rectors and rabbis, politicians and teachers.Failure of Nerve is essential reading for all leaders, be they parents or presidents, corporate executives or educators, religious superiors or coaches, healers or generals, managers or clergy. Friedman's insights about our regressed, seatbelt society, oriented toward safety rather than adventure, help explain the sabotage that leaders constantly face today.Suspicious of the quick fixes and instant solutions that sweep through our culture only to give way to the next fad, he argues for strength and self-differentiation as the marks of true leadership. His formula for success is more maturity, not more data; stamina, not technique; and personal responsibility, not empathy.This book was unfinished at the time of Friedman's death, and originally published in a limited edition. This new edition makes his life-changing insights and challenges available to a new generation of readers.

Conformed to His Image: Biblical and Practical Approaches to Spiritual Formation


Kenneth D. Boa - 2001
    Lives well-lived, not just words eloquently spoken, must become our response. The quality of our relationship with God is what will influence the health, potency, and witness of the church in an increasingly complex and hostile world.Designed for use as a college or seminary course, Conformed to His Image helps us build our lives on a fully biblical perspective. Exploring twelve approaches to Christian spirituality in depth, Dr. Kenneth Boa corrects our tendency to pick and compartmentalize. Pointing the way instead to an integrative, whole-life approach, Dr. Boa shows how each spiritual paradigm discussed is just one important facet in the gem of authentic and powerful New Testament living.With chapter overviews and objectives, questions for personal application, a glossary, and a list of key terms, Conformed to His Image will prove a defining text for the student, pastor, and church leader of today . . . and tomorrow. 12 Facets of the Complete Christian LifeRelational Spirituality: Loving God Completely, Ourselves Correctly, and Others CompassionatelyParadigm Spirituality: Cultivating an Eternal versus a Temporal PerspectiveDisciplined Spirituality: Engaging in the Historical DifferencesExchanged Life Spirituality: Grasping Our True Identity in ChristMotivated Spirituality: A Set of Biblical IncentivesDevotional Spirituality: Falling in Love with GodHolistic Spirituality: Every Component of Life under the Lordship of ChristProcess Spirituality: Being versus Doing, Process versus ProductSpirit-Filled Spirituality: Walking in the Power of the SpiritWarfare Spirituality: The World, the Flesh, and the DevilNurturing Spirituality: A Lifestyle of Discipleship and EvangelismCorporate Spirituality: Encouragement, Accountability, and Worship

The Disciple-Making Church


Bill Hull - 1990
    But often there is so much focus in our churches on the first part of Christ's command--evangelism--that the second part--teaching new believers to obey all that Christ commanded--is forgotten. New believers find themselves on their own, trying to figure out what their new life is supposed to look like. In this well-loved book, Bill Hull explains why disciple-making must be the focus of every believer's life and shows how each of us can do it. With practical examples drawn from vast ministry experience, Hull helps the church deepen and enrich the lives of believers as they learn to truly follow Christ.

Replenish: Leading from a Healthy Soul


Lance Witt - 2011
    An experienced pastor sounds the alarm about dangers that threaten the soul of a leader, offering hope for a sustainable and enjoyable life.

The Cup of Our Life: A Guide for Spiritual Growth


Joyce Rupp - 1997
    Explores how the cup is a symbol of life, with its emptiness and fullness, its brokenness and flaws, and all of its blessings.

Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine


Wayne Grudem - 1994
    Wayne Grudem's bestselling Systematic Theology has several distinctive features:A strong emphasis on the scriptural basis for each doctrineClear writing, with technical terms kept to a minimumA contemporary approach, treating subjects of special interest to the church todayA friendly tone, appealing to the emotions and the spirit as well as the intellectFrequent application to lifeResources for worship within each chapter Bibliographies in each chapter that cross-reference subjects to a wide range of other systematic theologies.

Practical Praying


John Edward - 2005
    For many people, their daily lives are a dark place with an even darker future, and John Edward shares how his belief in the power of prayer alone can help to illuminate a path for each individual to follow… using God’s gift of free will to chart our own course. Although he is quick to suggest this is not the fix to ‘find happiness’ in a material sense, the promise of living a more abundant life in general can be achieved. This book is divided into three sections. Section I deals with John’s overview of the process of prayer, his thoughts about writing on this subject matter, and the history of the rosary as authorized by the Catholic Church.   Section II is how he has utilized the power of prayer through the use of the rosary, and Section III is an audio CD that goes over the process of using the techniques of practical praying.  Includes a FREE BONUS Meditation CD!

Leading from the Inside Out: The Art of Self-Leadership


Samuel D. Rima - 2000
    Encourages and equips those in authority to master self-leadership principles and realize their full leadership potential.